Memorial

Heavy footsteps coming up behind me
Tell me I am followed not by shadow.
Undeniable, impassive, final,
Harsh reality comes ever closer.
All my monuments and triumph markers,
Legacy of squandered past and future
Ripped away, will crumble when I leave them
On the doorstep to the house eternal.
There in calm repose, I shan't remember
What I never finished, never started,
Never had the chance to learn I wanted.
Out upon the lawn, the children playing
Cops and robbers hide behind the stony
Stumps of my forgotten statuary.
They won't see the beauty I envisioned,
Only half-accomplished and abandoned
Obelisks to once-imagined greatness
Fallen on their sides and much eroded.